A Story Worth Telling

Chapter 3: Isabella

Chapter 3: Isabella

The rest of the day had passed quickly and I now found myself in my first class the next day. I sat in the only free desk of the room which happened to be right beside the model that I had met yesterday. In the front of the room, in the first row, sat the other two, whispering to each other, waiting for class to begin. Then there was the one in front of me, the other I had met yesterday, Shane. Without the sweat, his hair stuck out around him, mainly from the short hair cut that he possessed. He also wore a tight fitting blue shirt that hugged his lean muscles tightly and he wasn't the only one. In fact, there were many people here who wearing similar clothing and I figured it had something to do with the fact that they were athletes, probably runners. The tight clothing would help reduce the friction with the wind, allowing them to go faster without their clothes billowing behind them and distracting them.

"Hey, Isy." Jenn hissed and I turned to see her leaning from the edge of her desk, getting as close as she could to me, her eyes staring at me expectingly. "Do you have your schedule? I want to see what it's like."

"Why?" I questioned and she waved her hand as if attempting to wave a stench away from her.

"Just show me, please? I've never seen a writer's schedule before." With a sigh, I conceded and pulled the sheet from between the folders and handing it to her. She tugged it from my fingers before straightening herself and casting her eyes over it. In all honesty, it was not a complicated schedule and, in fact, excited me like none other. If it wasn't for this class, I doubted that I'd have any problems with my classes. But, it was because of this class that I was frightened. Math had never been my strong point and, in fact, has almost always been the lowest score even since elementary school. It wasn't going to change now, but if I was lucky and talked with my teacher, perhaps she could find a way to help.

"Damn, that's a lot of English classes." Jenn whistled beside me, sliding the paper back onto my desk and I nodded once. "I saw you were taking play writing, I hear that they try to get the decent ones that are written performed." She leaned forward once more, her blue eyes sparking with amusement and need. "If they want yours performed, you have to ask me, alright? It's a deal?"

"If it happens, I'll try."

"Yes!" She all but screamed causing multiple people to turn their heads in curiosity, but she waved her hand to signal it was nothing, but I wondered how little it really was. From the twinkle in her eyes and the pleased and entertained smile on her lips, I figured it was much more than what she was showing the others.

I turned my gaze from her and turned it back towards the front of the room only to have my attention caught by the guy in front of me, his head shaking slightly. Without seeing his face, I was not sure if he was irritated or entertained but I realized that it was nothing and, either way, would not change a single thing.

The door opened and a thin, balding man walked inside, what little hair he had was brown, streaked with gray. As a teacher, he wasn't anything special. He wore a nice buttoned up blue shirt, a black and blue tie, and black pants.

"Good morning, class. I do hope you remembered everything from last year." His voice wasn't particularly deep, but deep enough to be able to recognize that he was man. If spoken in musical terms, he would be a tenor. "We'll have the first week to go over some of the topics from last year before continuing the rest of the book." The man shuffled through the papers on his desk before pulling a piece out and walking to the middle of the room. "Well, roll call it is." He stated as he started to name off the other students.

Mindlessly, I flipped open to the first chapter of the book only to find myself looking at questions about the slope of the line and I groaned once in defeat. It was bad enough that I hated graphing but I, personally, could never understand how to find the slope.

*

"So I'm not the only one who sucks at it!" Kelly collapsed on the ground, a content smile on her face as her arms and legs sprawled around her. "At least we can struggle together, Isy."

"Isn't your brother a genius when it comes to math?" Jenn teased as she sat beside me, her legs crossing in front of her.

"Well, yeah, but it's so weird asking him for help. He just acts like it should make perfect sense and that I'm stupid for not understanding." She pouted slightly as she scooted over, laying her head in Jenn's lap and smiling up at her. "You'll help me again, won't you? Just like last year?"

"Yeah and she'll just get us to a low C again." Rose laughed, her left eye closing slightly in a half attempted wink. "We need to find someone who can actually help us and not lead us in the wrong direction, which means your brother."

"But he denies it every time! He isn't interested!" Kelly whined, her hands lifting up and covering her face, her fingers held together enough so that it blocked her eyes from looking at the world.

"There he is! At least go and try!" Jenn pushed Kelly up, shoving her towards the direction of the door where her brother was coming out of.

"Isn't it to early to get help!"

"Never!" Jenn insisted.

"Especially since all of us stared at the board in utter confusion and defeat on the very first day!" Rose reminded, earning one last groan before she stepped away and over to her brother.

"She'll probably be denied again, but it's worth it!" Jenn laughed, a slight demonic ring to it caught my attention and I realized that they were almost teasing Kelly about the situation, but I wasn't sure if it was something to be worried about or if it was normal. "Say, Isy, how was your first day? I know you had a lot of English classes to deal with, did it go well?"

"Aye." 'Well' was putting it mildly, in fact I had grown extremely excited for the rest of the semester, knowing full well the amount of work that I will have to do on the essays and the projects, but the thing that excited me above all else was my ability to learn all sorts of new things.

"That's good, but how many English classes are you taking?" Rose leaned forward, her face stopping about an inch away from mine and I quickly realized that these two knew nothing about personal space, that or they considered me a close enough friend and they aren't worried about frightening me. I wasn't really sure which it was and I doubted that I would be able to find out anytime soon.

"Four and then the math class."

"Five classes are pretty normal here, but four in one subject, that's going to be a lot of work!" She exclaimed, her jaw hanging in surprise as she looked at me with a glint of something like admiration. "I mean, I hate English classes and I hate writing essays so I could not even imagine how much insanity that's going to ensue for you."

"Guys!" A body collapsed in front of us and Kelly's head collapsed on my lap as she rolled around in glee. "He said he'll do it every Tuesday night after supper!"

"Whoa! What changed his mind after all this time?" Jenn demanded and Kelly shrugged and I could tell that she hardly cared as to why, only that he agreed. Though it did seem a little silly that he would agree to help us after how many times of rejecting the idea before. What had happened to make him change his tune?

"Either way, I think we might have a chance to pass." Rose squealed in excitement, her body wiggling to and fro before finally collapsing on my arm, her head resting on my shoulder. "I have a feeling that this semester is only going to get a lot better from here on in."

"Oh I hope so!" Kelly smiled up at me, her eyes twinkling with amusement and giddiness. This semester may very well get better but I do know that everything was not what I thought it would be. Rather than being bullied and ignored for being a writer, it almost seemed as if these three people were willing accept me for who I was and what I wanted to be, rather than what they thought I should be.

One way or another, I was sure that coming here was the best decision I had ever made.